


Eternal flame

by SabertoothedCat



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Fire, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22806994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabertoothedCat/pseuds/SabertoothedCat
Summary: When Steven gets mad at the gems and goes out for a walk, a new power surfaces.
Relationships: Amethyst & Steven Universe, Garnet & Steven Universe, Pearl & Steven Universe, Ruby & Steven Universe, Sapphire & Steven Universe
Comments: 11
Kudos: 57





	1. A new flame

The gems weren't listening to him. Again. He just wanted some time alone. Just some time to think. He knew they loved him, but sometimes they were too much.

Steven took a walk through the woods, but he couldn't help being still annoyed. He hadn't turned pink, so that was a pro. But he kept on thinking about how he was still just so annoyed.

That thought was interrupted by the smell of burning plastic and smoke, and the sensation of dry earth under his feet.

Steven looked at his feet and saw that his feet were completely consumed in a pink flame, slowly charring his jeans and grass around them.

It was enough to snap him out of his thoughts and send him into a panic. Steven tried desperately to stomp the fire away, but it made absolutely no difference.

The faint memory of the fact that his powers were tied to his emotions came to his head, and tried. ' _ Connie, the Gems, Connie, Dad, Mo- nope! Little Homeworld, the Diamonds, Connie, life… _ ' Steven thought to himself quickly.

And just as predicted, the flames died down to nothing more than glowing embers, which Steven, without thinking put out using his hands.

"Maybe I should go back home…" Steven told himself. He looked around for anyone who could've been walking there, and quickly licked his hand and pressed it against the ground.

He took a slightly longer route home, avoiding Little Homeworld. Just before reaching his house, Steven thought about the argument from earlier. He was still slightly pissed.

Steven quickly noticed the sand begin to melt under him, and calmed down. Liquid sand felt strange. It wasn't hot, at least not to him, and felt almost like molten caramel.

Once the sand cooled, Steven shook off any sand remains and entered the house.

"-I'm sorry Pearl, but my future vision is blurry. I don't know when, or even if he'll be returning-" Garnet's voice stopped at the door to the house opening.

"Steven! Where were you? We were so worried!" Cried Pearl as she tried to hug Steven, but was burnt just by touching his skin.

Steven stepped back quickly, holding his arm where Pearl had just burnt herself. "Oh gosh! Pearl I'm so sorry!" He stuttered.

"Dude. What happened?" Amethyst started, but her face flicked to rage. "Oh no. Was it Jasper? I'll beat her-"

Steven's eyes widened. "No! It wasn't her!" He shouted quickly. Realizing what he'd done, he hung his head, and mumbled something.

"Steven. Please speak up." Garnet asked him. Steven looked up at her.

"It was me." He mumbled, still quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. The silence was almost painful for him.

"What?" Luckily Amethyst cut the silence short. Steven stood in the doorframe awkwardly, not looking at anyone in the eye.

"I don't know why. It just started for no reason and-" he was cut short once again by much more smoke than before, with even the sleeves of his jacket burning. "Not again!"

After many deep breaths, Steven managed to calm down. The gems were all slack jawed in shock. "I don't want to hurt you guys." He mumbled, and sat down on the floor, head in his knees.

Garnet glowed for a moment, before splitting into Ruby and Sapphire. Ruby put her hand out to put it on Steven's shoulder, but he just scooted back.

"Steven. It's ok." She started. She reached out her hand again and put it on Steven's shoulder. Steven, seeing that he couldn't hurt Ruby, hugged her.

After the hug, Ruby kisses Sapphire, and the two fused back into Garnet. "See? No one can harm the eternal flame or anyone near her." She said, wiping Steven's tears.

Steven sniffled and chuckled as Garnet pulled him into a hug. Pearl and Amethyst also hugged them, as Steven no longer felt like he was burning.

"Thanks, guys." Steven cried.


	2. Fire baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet helps Steven.

The next day, Steven woke up happier than usual. Garnet had agreed to help him control these powers, meaning that he wouldn't hurt anyone.

He met Garnet in the now empty burning room. After healing the corrupted gems, they didn't need to bubble gems and send them there anymore.

"Alright Steven. If it gets too hot in here for you, you can go outside." Garnet said. Steven realized something. The heat of the usually oven hot burning room felt like any other part of the house. Not especially hot, but not too cool.

"Anyway. Let's see what you can do." Garnet started again. She and Steven walked over to the well of lava that stood in the centre of the room. "Now, put your hand as close as you can until you can feel the heat of it."

Steven did. His hand got closer and closer to the lava. And without thinking, he put his hand into the lava, and then took it out unscathed.

It wasn't surprising when Garnet didn't gasp, but hummed. Steven, again, stuck his hand into the lava. This time he properly contemplated the feeling. It was more viscous than syrup and caramel and felt warm.

"Steven." Garnet said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Steven looked at her and hummed. "Your jacket's on fire."

He looked at his jacket and squeaked. His hands were still soaked in lava, so he tried blowing on it, but of course that didn't work. Luckily Garnet put it out.

"Thanks Garnet." He chuckled lightly. He shook his hands, making sure not to get any lava on his clothes. He took off his jacket and bubbled it for safekeeping.

"Alright. Now, what did you feel when you burnt your feet?" Garnet asked him.

Steven thought for a moment. "Anger, rage, wanting to be left alone." He replied. Garnet thought for a single moment.

"Think about a gem hurting Connie." She stated. And as she had predicted, Steven's whole body covered in a glowing pink fire, with only his eyes being a purple shade.

"No one hurts Connie." He growled, voice like spitting fire. He jumped at the sound of his voice. Steven looked at his own hands and walked away from Garnet, not wanting to hurt her.

But he failed to notice the lava well behind him, and tripped into it. His head reemerged, no longer on fire. Garnet walked to him to help him out.

"Need help, fire baby?" She asked. Steven laughed at the name, before stopping.

"I think my clothes burned." He muttered. Perhaps the pebbles could make some fireproof clothes for him. Garnet nodded, and left to fetch some clothes.

A loud argument was heard above the room, and Amethyst and Pearl fell through the puddle leading to the burning room.

"Amethyst! Give it back before Garnet sees!" Pearl shouted. Steven looked at Pearl's hand and saw five bubbled shards, and another two in Amethyst's.

"It's not like anyone is here, Pearl, don't worry." Amethyst replied, but still gave her the shards quickly.

"Uh. Hey guys!" Steven awkwardly chuckled from the well. The two gems snapped their heads towards the origin of the voice.

Pearl panicked first rushing towards Steven. "Steven! It's ok! We'll save you!" She yelled.

Amethyst just looked at him in amusement. "So, Steevie, what happened?" Steven sunk slightly deeper into the lava.

"Fell into the well and burnt my clothes. Garnet's getting some more." He mumbled. Amethyst laughed, while Pearl panicked even more.

"Garnet's going to be back?!" She screeched. Steven shrugged and nodded. And as if it were planned, Garnet entered the room with the clothes.

Pearl let out an ungodly screech, and leapt back up through the puddle, leaving everyone confused, including Garnet.

"Hey G. Just here to return some shards." Amethyst said as casually as possible. "If you don't mind, I'll be out now. See ya!" And she leapt through the puddle as well.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Garnet spoke. "That was probably the most unlikely future I saw." Garnet grabbed Steven's jacket and tossed it close to the well.

"Hey Gar-" he started, but was interrupted.

"Yes." And like that, she left the room for Steven to get changed.

Steven came out a few minutes later fully dressed, but with a few burn marks marking his clothes.

"I really need to go to the pebbles." He muttered. "And take a spare pair of clothes until I do."

Amethyst and Pearl emerged a moment later, Amethyst giggling and laughing while Pearl walked stiffly.

"Hello, Garnet! How are you?" Pearl said as stiffly as she walked. Amethyst laughed even more and Garnet chuckled. Pearl looked at Steven and ran over to him. "Oh Steven! You're alright!" Pearl hugged him, this time, not burning herself.

The others joined in the hug, not wanting to miss out.

"Steven you need to get some more clothes." Mentioned Pearl. 

"I know, I'll go tomorrow." He replied.


	3. Comparing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Steven goes to Homeworld, it goes wrong.

The agonizing pain, the feeling of emptiness, black talons, a taunting laugh…

Steven woke up from his nightmare covered in water. At the foot of his bed were Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet, Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis.

"Steven! Are you ok? What happened?" Asked Pearl, who was holding Garnet's arm.

Steven looked around him. The clothes around where his gem was embedded firmly in his navel were burnt and charred.

"We had to get Lapis and the others to put it out." Garnet stated. Steven smiled sheepishly at them. 

"Thanks Lapis." Steven said to the water gem, who smiled in return. Bismuth, Peridot and Lapis left, saying that they'd see him later. 

He flopped back onto his bed and sighed.

"So. What happened dude?" Amethyst asked him. He couldn't look in her eyes, and just looked at the sunrise.

"I had a nightmare." He mumbled. He really didn't want to talk about it. Even after two years, although he was able to mask it easily, he still feared White.

"Do you-" Pearl tried, but Steven shook his head right away. She sighed and got up with Amethyst and Garnet to go downstairs.

Some minutes later, Steven joined them downstairs.

"So, Steven. Are you ready to go to Homeworld?" Garnet asked him. The tired teen hummed confusedly. "For your new clothes."

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that." He replied, walking over to make his protein shake.

After breakfast, he took two pairs of spare clothes and put them in a bag. One for the pebbles to copy, the other in case he had another  _ incident _ .

He went back downstairs and onto the warp pad where the gems were waiting for him, and warped off to Homeworld.

When they arrived, the diamond chime sounded. The Diamonds appeared soon after.

"Steven! What are you doing here?" White asked him. Steven looked completely calm on the outside, yet was panicking internally.

"Hey there, guys. I just wanted to ask the pebbles a favour." He replied. To the Diamonds, he looked like he was doing absolutely fine. But to the Gems it was the complete opposite.

"Of course! Do you know the way?" Blue asked him. Steven nodded, and they walked to Pink's old room.

Once they were out of hearing range of the Diamonds, Amethyst broke the silence.

"Dude. What happened back there?" Amethyst asked him. Steven looked at her in confusion.

"You know what I mean." Her eyes narrowed at him. Steven realized that he wasn't going to fool them.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all." He replied in what he thought was a casual tone. But that was interrupted by his shirt beginning to smolder right around where his gem lay.

He sighed as he tried to calm down. "I'll tell you when we get back home." Steven promised, and walked faster to Pink's room.

When they entered the room, there was quite a sight. The pebbles had built a whole water park, where all of them were partying and having fun.

When the pebbles saw him, they all began to climb on him.

"Hey guys." Steven laughed. It was always nice to see them. "Could you guys do me a favour? If you don't mind, of course."

"Of course, Steven! What do you need?" One of the pebbles asked him. Steven took out his clothes, and put them on the floor.

"Could you guys make clothes like these, but using fireproof materials? I've been having some… incidents." He asked them. He didn't want to be a bother, but he did need some new clothes.

The pebbles studied the clothes for a minute, and replied. "We'll be done in a day."

"Thanks guys." Steven said as he hugged them.

Steven left the room happily. But that happiness was ruined by a pair of blue agates pestering the gems.

"-you filthy off colour. And you, defective Amethyst shouldn't even be allowed to exist!" One of them shouted.

"Can I beat these losers up, Garnet?" Amethyst growled. The agates looked in disgust at Amethyst. 

"An amethyst threatening an agate? What's your cut?" The other agate demanded.

Amethyst groaned. "Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8XM."

The agates puffed their chest and smiled smugly. Then, both of them took out whips, crackling with electricity.

Both groups got into battle stance, but Steven rushed between both groups, not wanting to fight.

"Hey, hey. What's going on here?" He asked. He always tried to talk instead of fight. 

But before anyone could answer, one of the agates slashed her whip towards Steven, who was promptly sent flying back.

One of the agates and the Crystal Gems gasped. Steven stood up slowly, clutching his fist tightly. The agate that hadn't gasped just sneered at him. "What is a human like  _ you _ going to do to me?" She taunted as she reared her whip back.

As she brought it down on the 'human', he caught it. The whip burnt away in a pink flame, making the agate drop it immediately.

Steven's hand covered in fire, and leapt forwards to attack her. No one knew whether or when to stop them. 

But everyone froze, including Steven, when the agate poofed, and her gem fell to the floor. Steven, realizing what he did backed away from everyone.

As the gems tried to get close to him, his pink blush covered him. It wasn't the pink fire this time. 

He compared himself to Pink. To what  _ she _ did. How  _ she _ poofed and bubbled gems for no reason.

He ran. He ran faster than he ever had before. It was as fast as Smoky had run when she saved the roller coaster. Steven zoomed past everyone; guards, Spinel, the Diamonds, and got straight onto the warp pad.

And before anyone noticed, he had warped out of there.


End file.
